Systems have long been needed to maintain good electrical conductivity between terminals of dry cell batteries and electrical contacts connected to them. The need exists at the terminals of single cell batteries, at the end terminals of multicell batteries, and between the cells of multicell batteries.
Multicell dry batteries have long been assembled by stacking individually constructed flat cells one above another and electrically connecting them in series. The electrical connections between adjacent pairs of cells have involved a variety of constructions including leaf springs, projecting point contacts, and others. To assure continued electrical intercell connection and to minimize the electrical resistance across the connection it has been common to maintain the stack of cells in compression by wrapping or surrounding them with tapes, bands, straps and shrinking encapsulators. As the thickness of the individual cells decreases, however, the practicality of using tapes, bands, straps or encapsulators diminishes.
In multicell batteries having extremely thin cells, the use of such tapes, bands, straps and encapsulators has been abandoned altogether and adjacent cells as well as the layers within each cell have been adhered together by various adhesives, gels, bonding agents, and other materials; see for example the constructions shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,770,504 and 3,617,387. In general the constructions shown in these and other references have required the adhesives to be electrically conductive, since the adhesives served the additional function of being the intercell connections. Where this was not the case, the adhesives performed the single function of adhering layers together while some other component was utilized to make the intercell electrical connection, and that other component was not under compression.